When you acknowledge readers’ questions or objections, you show that you are aware of their point of view and take it seriously even if you do not agree with it, as in the following example:
The homeless, it seems, can be roughly divided into two groups: those who have had marginality and homelessness forced upon them and want nothing more than to escape them, and a smaller number who have at least in part chosen marginality, and now accept, or, in a few cases, embrace it.
I understand how dangerous it can be to introduce the idea of choice into a discussion of homelessness. It can all too easily be used for all the wrong reasons by all the wrong people to justify indifference or brutality toward the homeless, or to argue that they are getting only what they deserve.
And I understand, too, how complicated the notion can become: Many of the veterans on the street, or battered women, or abused and runaway children, have chosen this life only as the lesser of evils, and because, in this society, there is often no place else to go.
And finally, I understand how much that happens on the street can combine to create an apparent acceptance of homelessness that is nothing more than the absolute absence of hope.
Nonetheless we must learn to accept that there may indeed be people on the street who have seen so much of our world, or have seen it so clearly, that to live in it becomes impossible.
—PETER MARIN, “Go Ask Alice”
Marin acknowledges three doubts his readers may have regarding his argument that some of America’s homeless have chosen that way of life.
You might think that acknowledging readers’ objections in this way—addressing readers directly, listing their possible objections, and discussing each one—would weaken your argument. It might even seem reckless to suggest objections that not all readers would think of. On the contrary, however, most readers respond positively to this strategy because it makes you seem thoughtful and reasonable. By researching your subject and your readers, you will be able to use this strategy confidently in your own argumentative essays. And you will learn to look for it in arguments you read and use it to make judgments about the writer’s credibility.
Richard Estrada acknowledges readers’ concerns in paragraphs 6 and 7 of his essay in Chapter 6 (pp. 256–57). How, specifically, does Estrada attempt to acknowledge his readers’ concerns? What do you find most and least successful in his acknowledgment? How does the acknowledgment affect your judgment of the writer’s credibility?